What is unique about this publication, I believe, is how Colin brings little- known facts to us about all kinds of topics, but mostly about minorities, peoples and languages. Continue reading
Filed under place names …
Poetry: Mary Howlett, Colm Breathnach, Ray Givans, Diane Fahey, Patrick O Sullivan.
It’s not easy to be in love with
a place that has changed so much. Continue reading
The Brothers O’Shea: becoming stardust
We are struck by the extent of the brothers’ influence on both their adopted countries. They made a difference. They added to the community and to the culture. Continue reading
Irish homestead names in Australia
While many Irish place names in Australia remain unchanged, especially those of populated areas and permanent geographical features, the names of homesteads are more likely to change. A homestead in Australia is usually a house and pastoral property. Some placename websites separate the homestead from the land, and some call a homestead a ‘station’. Continue reading
Memories of Our Old House
Who can forget the smell of the Ulster fry of bacon, eggs and fadges completely soaked in gravy? Continue reading
Reflections on Saint Brigid
He tells us that Patrick was a powerful, diligent, and determined man. After reading the Lives of Brigid, you could espouse this forceful but patient woman with the same attributes and above all piety and humility. Continue reading
Eureka 170: a grandson remembers his grandmother
However, that story of liberation and democracy continues. Peter at the stockade and Speaker of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, was not the closing chapter. Continue reading
On the Good Ship Ulysses
We parked the car, grabbed our backpacks, and made our way up the passenger stairwell. In my backpack was James Joyce’s Ulysses, bookmarked at the final chapter, ‘Penelope’, which I planned to finish reading whilst on board the Ulysses, travelling to Dublin to visit iconic landmarks mentioned in the book. How meta. Continue reading
We are reading at the moment…
Most of the stories date from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and many deal with miserable school experiences. You won’t be surprised to read of Bob Geldof tormenting the priests at Blackrock College by asking inconvenient religious questions, or Edna O’Brien recounting how she sinned by the hour Continue reading
A new Irish-Australian Meeting point in Brisbane?
This now slightly derogatory generic name for an Australian female was first applied to Irish women who appeared in Australian courts. Continue reading